The upgrade to Firefox 3.5 was a huge and welcome improvement, especially with its new faster javascript engine. However, one of the most annoying things about the upgrade was the inexplicable removal of the browser.link.open_external option.

open_external Background:Other applications will often use the system’s default browser to load web pages. When a Mozilla-based browser is running, it can catch links sent by other programs. This preference determines how Mozilla handles those links.

Possible values and their effects:1 = Open links from external programs in the current window.2 = Open links from external programs in a new window. 3 = Open links from external programs in new tabs in an existing window. (Default in Firefox)

While this an 'under-the-hood' option that can only be accessed via about:config, it is an important one because in my browsing routine, I want URLs that I click in my email program or instant messaging program to bring up links into new windows, not buried as one of the many tabs in one of the many open browser windows. Also, when it is directed to a tab instead of a new window, the page does not pop-up and into focus for me to read and I have to go searching for it. So i prefer open_external=2.

After months since the update to Firefox 3.5, I have finally found a solution. An AddOn created by mrchucho.net called Tabs Open Relative (Modified) 1.0 (a modified version of the Tabs Open Relative AddOn), which restores the open_external behavior!

For BRT to really be successful, it must be perceived and treated as a form or Rapid Transit - like a subway, not just a bus.

Successful BRT needs: -Dedicated lane ways. -STATIONS (not just some bus stop, a real station. remember this is rapid transit, it should be treated like a subway station). -Advanced fare collection at the stations. -Fast methods of boarding/disembarking buses.

It is interesting to note that so called rapid bus lines in Metro Vancouver has none of these.

Surrey is a developing city with a huge potential.Surrey should develop an awesome masterplan to guide it in its development throughout the coming years, decades, and centuries. Some great examples of masterplans that I have looked over in the past year include Curitiba, Brazil; Greensburg, Kansas; and various cities around the world. Check out the innovative approaches that Curitiba and Greensburg have taken/are taking!

UPDATEI've realized that I didn't clarify that a Masterplan is a comprehensive outline for the urban planning of a city.

Pretty sweet technology allowing 360 degree, navigable, video. Similar to Quicktime3D, but with video. I'm interested to see what the possibilities will be. Live 360 degree streaming web broadcasts? It would be like you were right there at the show~

For those of you unfamiliar with Prism, I will keep it short and let you read the rest on their website. Mozilla Prism is a piece of software (based off Firefox and which is also available as an Addon to Firefox) that allows you to create a desktop web-application of your favorite web service.

This is a great way to isolate a service, such as Gmail, to be its own application and running separately from all your other Firefox windows, with its own process. I especially like it this way because Gmail will tend to bog down my browser and take up a lot of memory. Now I can just restart the Gmail webapp instead of restarting all of my browser windows.

But back to Prism. Yeah, its great. It produces a lightweight version of Firefox to client the web service. It also supports the ability to have Addon Extensions. They generally work exactly the same as Firefox extensions but with a few differences here and there. By default Firefox extensions wont work for Prism, they need to be altered.

One of my favorite Firefox addons is Greasemonkey. It allows you to have your own custom js scripts to modify webpages to the way you want to view them. I wanted Greasemonkey to be a part of my Gmail webapp, because I have a script that modifies the layout to make room for the Tasks pane. Unfortunately you can't just simply install the default Greasemonkey addon to Prism.

So with the help of this article on Prism extensions and how they differ from Firfox's, I was able to modify the current version of Greasemonkey to make it installable into Prism.

However, after some more searching online, I found teramako's version of Greasemonkey for Prism. This version is much better tweaked for Prism than mine. It has a new method for adding scripts better suited to Prism and got the Greasemonkey status icon working. The only drawback about teramako's version is that it hasn't been packaged in an xpi for install, so its rather un-userfriendly. So for the convenience of others, here is a packaged xpi of teramako's Greasemonkey for Prism:

[UPDATE]:Here is an updated xpi of teramako's addon. Version 0.8.20090811.2.For future reference, if you guys want the latest version, you can easily create your own xpi of the addon. Just download all the files from the latest build on teramako's site and use your favorite zip program and add the files to a zip file, then rename the .zip extension to .xpi